


Afternoon Tea

by herdivineshadow



Category: Inception (2010)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-11-11
Updated: 2011-11-11
Packaged: 2017-10-25 23:03:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 501
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/275822
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/herdivineshadow/pseuds/herdivineshadow
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Post-movie.</p><p>Ariadne and Arthur have more work to do, Eames...tags along.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Afternoon Tea

**Author's Note:**

  * For [anatsuno](https://archiveofourown.org/users/anatsuno/gifts).



He wasn't quite sure why he was here. The job with Saito was over. Cobb was off getting used to the idea of having his family again. Yusuf was back in Mombasa continuing with his alchemy.

So why was Arthur holed up in a fancy hotel room with Ariadne and the most irritating man on the planet?

That was down to Ariadne. She had wanted to experiment more with the dream world and had asked for his help. Arthur didn't know what Eames was doing here. He made sarcastic comments about Arthur's contributions towards Ariadne's experiments. He frequently came into rooms at exactly the wrong moment.

And he had taken to ordering afternoon tea from room service. Every day.

Now, Arthur appreciated ritual and order as much as the next man. More so, perhaps. This? This was ridiculous. It had started with just the tea. Then he'd moved on to ordering cream teas. Now, he was on to afternoon tea. Not high tea, apparently, as that involved a hot meal.

 

Or so he had been corrected by Eames.

Eames who had just finished describing, in charming detail, exactly what his afternoon tea should contain to the unfortunate soul who was responsible for taking room service orders.

Cucumber sandwiches, with the crusts cut off, were apparently essential.

The Englishman had somehow charmed the hotel staff into acquiring Battenberg cake for him.

Yesterday, they had gotten hold of some obscure brand of fish paste that had, apparently, the "smoothest texture" and "subtlest flavour".

It seemed like the list of items got longer every day they remained in the hotel. It seemed like Eames was doing this specifically to piss him off. He was beginning to suspect that Eames had even convinced someone in the hotel to iron his newspapers.

 

"If you're that homesick, you know," said Arthur. "You could just get on a plane to London for a few days."

He'd suggested the idea yesterday and the day before. Ariadne had only looked up briefly from whatever design tome she had been studying. Eames had responded in the negative, smiled and opened his newspaper.

"And miss out on your delightful company? Miss your devastating insight into the workings of the human mind?" He exclaimed today, amused for some reason as he moved around the room behind him. "Never!

"And anyway, you would miss me too much."

Arthur arched an eyebrow at that. "I'm sure we can manage without you."

"That's certainly possible, but your experiments would lack a certain...finesse. A certain...je ne se quoi."

He resisted the urge to turn around and glare at Eames. A reaction would only encourage him.

"You would get bored without me."

"I doubt tha..." Arthur was rudely interrupted by what appeared to be a thick wedge of gateau smooshed into his face. And possibly, a snort from the general direction of Ariadne's armchair.

He turned, eyes narrowed only partially in response to the cream on his face, and Eames grinned at him. "See? Confection-based excitement."


End file.
